Arcia - GEEZ!

[Smcginnity]

OK, I realize people are figuring Arcia out but seriously, the strikeouts are getting to be ridiculous!

[stringer bell]

The All-Star break could have showed up about a week earlier. This team doesn't have a chance right now. Arcia is one of many who are not hitting at all. It will end sometime.

[Kwak]

Arcia = zorro

[Brad Swanson]

I'd say give him a day off tomorrow and get him some work off the tee. Coomer was right, he's pulling his head when he swings.

[Riverbrian]

I'd sit Arcia tomorrow and Sunday. No sense killing him by having him try to work through things in front of fans.

 

He's off... Mentally... Physically Off. You don't want to cement it.

 

Tell him... "Get some sleep and we will see you bright and early tomorrow for work off the tee"! Spend the weekend and all star break getting his mechanics back.

 

Dozier, Doumit, And Hicks are the only three at least making decent contact. Start them!!!

 

Go with Vets for the other 6 spots. Mauer, Morneau, Carroll, Plouffe I guess...

 

Jeez... I'm out of vets... Thomas... And we will need a SS... Florimon it is.

 

1. Hicks CF

2. Dozier 2B

3. Mauer C

4. Morneau 1B

5. Plouffe DH

6. Doumit RF

7. Thomas LF

8. Carroll 3B

9. Florimon SS

 

Shake it up... And tell the vets that you expect leadership by example at the plate and you expect it right now!

 

Also seriously inform them that trying to bust out of this slump by hitting a 5 run homer isn't going to work and fines will be levied for anyone who actually hits a home run until they win two games.

 

I know that last part sounds goofy... But do it. They have struck out 45 times in 3 games.

[beckmt]

Maybe we send him back to Rochester to get his head on straight. This season is all about getting a number of players experience, might as well continue.

[Brad Swanson]

Maybe we send him back to Rochester to get his head on straight. This season is all about getting a number of players experience, might as well continue.

 

Isn't this also the argument for not sending him down? He's got to learn to adjust to MLB pitching at some point. It might as well happen during another 90 loss season.

[Guest USAFChief]

He's 22 yrs old, spent half of 2012 in A ball, and has roughly 1 season above that level. There's going to be some rough spots, folks. It'll happen with Sano, Rosario, and Buxton, too, if they even get this far.

 

Relax. It's normal.

[jokin]

The All-Star break could have showed up about a week earlier. This team doesn't have a chance right now. Arcia is one of many who are not hitting at all. It will end sometime.

 

The Red Wings are playing in Pawtucket, at 6PM Saturday night. In a little over 2 hours drivetime from Yankee Stadium by car, Arcia can play Sat., Sun., and Monday with the Wings and then again on Thursday. It would be kind of like a rehab assignment- only missing 2 games and playing 4 "rehab" games. Heck, it's only an hour and a half from Yankee Stadium to New Britain, he could play 6 games with the Rock Cats between Saturday and next Thursday.

 

Chris Colabello can be brought up to play in left field for the Twins, or hit off the bench. The Twins won't do it, but they should consider it- Arcia is an absolute mess right now.

[diehardtwinsfan]

The Red Wings are playing in Pawtucket, at 6PM Saturday night. In a little over 2 hours drivetime from Yankee Stadium by car, Arcia can play Sat., Sun., and Monday with the Wings and then again on Thursday. It would be kind of like a rehab assignment- only missing 2 games and playing 4 "rehab" games. Heck, it's only an hour and a half from Yankee Stadium to New Britain, he could play 6 games with the Rock Cats between Saturday and next Thursday.

 

Chris Colabello can be brought up to play in left field for the Twins, or hit off the bench. The Twins won't do it, but they should consider it- Arcia is an absolute mess right now.

 

There's a minimum amount of time he needs to be down (with an exclusion for injury)... If they send him down, he'd likely be down for a couple of weeks.

 

You are right he's a mess right now. The question will be whether a night off and a bit of work in batting practice will correct that or if he's going to need some time down in Rochester. It's going to depend on how he adjusts.

[Riverbrian]

No need for Rochester.

 

11 K's in 3 games... That means that he's gonna struggle in Rochester as well and that ain't gonna be good for his head.

 

Just let him know... It's OK... This stuff happens all the time... Now let's go get that swing back.

 

Show him film... Arcia before... Arcia now.. Get on the Tee and find it again. Just keep him out of lineup until we return from the break.

[nicksaviking]

 

And we will need a SS... Florimon it is.

 

 

I was thinking Colabello.

[jimbo92107]

Let him watch a couple Hulk movies, then go out there and...Arcia SMASH!

 

Seriously, the other guys are right, this is just a rookie going through some uncertainty at the plate. Exactly what pitchers try to do, get batters doubting themselves by messing up their rhythm at the plate. Or in this case, their stance.

 

Oswaldo Arcia got the early call because he has a short, compact, powerful swing with lots of inside-out punch. Lately he's kind of lost that inside-out punch, so the ball's not exploding off his bat like it used to. Like Morneau, Arcia's batting stance has lost its aggressive look, where he leans out over the plate a bit more, and stays there throughout the swing. Instead, like Morneau, he's standing just a bit more upright, leaning just a bit away, giving up the outside corner and losing the inside-out punch that really sends a baseball screaming off the bat.

 

Arcia will get it back because his swing is in muscle memory, so hitting off a tee for awhile could do it, or just some extra soft-toss batting practice. Pitchers do everything they can to disrupt a hitter's rhythm and mechanics, and sometimes the disrupted stuff becomes a bad habit. The other thing Arcia must do is figure out what pitchers are doing right to make him do things wrong. Whatever they're doing, he can't let that trigger his bad habits. My guess is that Arcia will emerge from his current slump with a vengeance. Like Morneau used to do.

[gil4]

The Red Wings are playing in Pawtucket, at 6PM Saturday night. In a little over 2 hours drivetime from Yankee Stadium by car

 

I was planning to go see the Rock Cats tonight, but didn't realize I had a choice. NB and Pawtucket are both about an hour away - recommendations?

[jokin]

There's a minimum amount of time he needs to be down (with an exclusion for injury)... If they send him down, he'd likely be down for a couple of weeks.

 

You are right he's a mess right now. The question will be whether a night off and a bit of work in batting practice will correct that or if he's going to need some time down in Rochester. It's going to depend on how he adjusts.

 

There's a 10-day rule when someone is sent down, but I'm thinking that there could be a trade and/or someone DL'd as part of a mid-season shakeup.

 

It looks like Arcia is going to need some major work on getting back to the approach that was so successful for him until very recently. While his numbers for the whole month of July are red-flag disturbing- his slash is .159/.196/.182 with a 37% K-Rate- his numbers over the last 7 days have spiraled down to Hicks-in-April levels of ineptitude- .042/.080/.042, with a 52% K-Rate.

 

I'm guessing getting him out of this funk will end up requiring more than just a couple days off the field and in the cage with a tee- hope I'm wrong, because I loved his approach at the onset of his call-up- he's far, far away from that guy at the plate now.

[jokin]

I was planning to go see the Rock Cats tonight, but didn't realize I had a choice. NB and Pawtucket are both about an hour away - recommendations?

 

The far more compelling roster is at New Britain, and if Trevor May gets the start tonight, it's where I'd be headed. Albers is going for the Wings, so that might float your boat. Pawtucket has the superior ballpark, McCoy Stadium.

[Oldgoat_MN]

There was a point where Aaron Hicks stopped looking like he was getting beat and started looking like he was beaten before the pitch was thrown. It was really ugly for a while.

 

I realize he isn't tearing up the league now, but he looks again like he thinks he belongs at the plate.

 

That defeated look is what Arcia is sporting right now. Terrible at bats.

 

I remember reading that Bruno was specifically working with Hicks to get him to relax. Shortly after that Hicks started to hit.

 

Hope he can do that with Arcia. The kid has a huge upside. IMO, way more (offensively) than Hicks.

[gil4]

The far more compelling roster is at New Britain, and if Trevor May gets the start tonight, it's where I'd be headed. Albers is going for the Wings, so that might float your boat. Pawtucket has the superior ballpark, McCoy Stadium.

 

Compter access has been hit and miss over my vacation. We went to the Rock Cats game. I had a feeling that the fact I couldn't find a starter listed as of early afternoon on game day was bad news, and I was right - Nick Blackburn. It was only his 2nd start of the year - the first was in the GCL - and he did not look good. He didn't give up any runs in the first three innings, but then got pounded pretty well in the 4th and 5th. His final line: 4.2 IP, 7H, 5R 5ER, 2BB 2K. He left trailing 5-1 and that's the way things stayed. (

 

One more note - Blackburn looked like conditioning might be a problem. Maybe it was just the fit of the uniform, but he looked quite a bit heavier than I remember. It was my first time seeing him pitch in person, but on TV he always looked trim.

 

Sano was out - probably a travel day for the futures game. Rosario was 1-4 with a double, but he also had two misplayed routine ground balls. The first he recovered to make the play, but the second went for an error.

 

The game wasn't the performance I had hoped to see, but it was a beautiful night for baseball and we had a great time.

 

Note to Rock Cats: Free programs are great, but they are much more useful if they have team rosters in them. Also, competitive eaters might interest a few fans, but many find them disgusting. I'm glad he failed in his attempt to break a record by eating 12 lb of BBQ in 10 minutes. The Dancing Christopher performance was hilarious, however. It was a one-man Village People dance team - he had 4 life-sized puppets attached to him - two in front and two behind. The arms and legs were connected to his so that when he moved they moved. It was very well done. (He just came out about four times between innings.)